By Tarah Scott One Christmas Eve when I was about seven years old, my folks took me and my siblings out for the evening. Imagine our delight when we returned to find all kinds of presents beneath our tree! I was now a believer. I didn’t know how Santa had done it, or how my parents knew just the right time to get us kids out of the house to make way for our jolly guy in red, but they had pulled it off. I wonder if Santa remembers our house that night. I like to think he does, and when he does, he smiles just a little.

By Abigail Edwards I tried to stifle the sob that climbed my throat, but it pressed against my vocal chords until it was impossible to talk. The doctor didn’t seem to want me to say anything more as she continued to explain how small my three day old daughter was…

By Louisa Cornell There is a long-standing tradition in the Deep South at this time of year for churches and communities to put on Live Nativity Scenes. What is that, you say? Exactly what you think. Members of a community or a church dress up as characters from the Nativity…

By Summer Hanford Growing up, every Christmas meant dinner at Grandma Lil’s and Grandpa Ken’s. Their house was a strange and magical place for children. They were those kind, forgiving sort of grandparents that let little kids run wild and free through their home. …

By Gemma Evans There is something truly magical about young children and Christmas. For my youngest son, Konnor, last year became the year that the magic overtook him. …

By E.A. Comiskey My sister and I lay beneath our Holly Hobby bedspreads watching our breath plume into the freezing cold air. In 1979, old farmhouses didn’t have forced heat on the second floor. We had a vent cut into the living room ceiling. In theory, warm air would drift…

By Mandy Michelle When I think back to Christmases past, I think of my Gran. Every year on Christmas, after we would open gifts, we would all pile into the car and head to the other side of town to have Christmas dinner at my Gran’s house. …

By Jen Haeger December 2010 found my husband and I fulfilling one of our dreams, living in Auckland, New Zealand. Amongst some of the things you should know about New Zealand are that there is at least one single-lane bridge that shares the road with a train track (in case…

By Megan Lee Hewell I live in Canada, the Great White North. Specifically, I live in Vancouver, which is unlike the rest of the Great White North in one very specific way: we do not regularly get snow. Our Christmases are always green (or grey, as we seem to have…